(Mis)Aligning Institutional Supports for Latinx Immigrant-Origin Transfer Students

• In Event: Understanding Latinx/e Students' Pathways to and Through Higher Education

Abstract

Higher education institutions remain largely in the dark about who Latinx immigrant-origin transfer students are, what they bring to college, and how to better support them to degree completion. Moreover, researchers have called on institutions to create more transfer receptive campuses. Drawing on asset-based frameworks and a multi-methodological qualitative approach (significant circles and testimonios), this study describes the first-year transfer experience of 20 Latinx immigrant-origin students in California. The findings focus on the (mis)alignment of institutional supports, noting three main areas: (1) transfer onboarding, (2) transfer (in)visibility, and, (3) post-graduate and career planning. Implications offers ways to (re)design institutional structures to better serve Latinx, immigrant-origin students.

Author

• Marco A. Murillo, Santa Clara University